UFS Connects

I spent March 4th and 5th in Albany for the Board meeting and related activities. There was a Friends of SUNY reception with legislators in the Legislative Office Building that Monday evening. Lots of campus Presidents, members of the Chancellor’s team, and legislators coming and going from caucus meetings. In addition to remarks from the Chancellor, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado and NYS Budget Director Blake Washington (a U Albany alum) spoke to the crowd.

Some highlights from the Board meeting:

Budget matters: Both the Chancellor and Interim CFO Josh Sager briefed Trustees on the status of the budget negotiations. This was before the release of the One House bills, so there wasn’t any difference from the update I provided last week. William Schwartz was appointed as Vice Chancellor for Government Relations. Christy Woods and I met with Will the day before to discuss UFS and FCCC budget priorities, and Will provided some very useful perspectives on approaches we could take. Look for a separate email on final budget advocacy now that the One House bills are out.

Academic Medical Centers and Hospitals committee. The entire meeting of AMCH was in executive session, so there’s not much I can say. Discussion of one of our hospitals took up most, but not all, of the meeting. Each of our hospitals and health centers is having their own problems. I continue to push for meaningful consultation as the future of our hospitals is considered. As I said in last week’s update, our core frameworks for Downstate should be a thriving medical university with a strong teaching and research mission; increased, high-quality outpatient and ambulatory care capacity; the preservation of key inpatient and emergency care to meet the needs of Brooklyn.
TPS tuition benefits. Tuition benefits were extended for students from Temporary Protected Status (TPS) countries. This allows them to pay in-state tuition while attending our campuses.

Honorary Degrees. The Board provided initial approval to the state of honorary degrees candidates submitted by campuses. Individual names aren’t public yet, while campuses reach out to the candidates to confirm acceptance, and dates and logistics for the awards. I was on the review committee that vetted all of the candidates though, and it was an impressive and diverse array of candidate submissions, from our university centers to some of our community colleges, and some interesting ways to engage the degree candidates with campus.
Civic Education and Engagement and Civil Discourse Fellows. The Chancellor announced the first cohort of 10 civic engagement fellows. The list of fellows and what they will be working on is in the press release attached below.

Single-Use plastics. The policy framework for phasing out single use plastics across SUNY campuses was reviewed and endorsed at the Board meeting (press release below). Each campus and community college is required to: establish a campus baseline; develop a plan for reduction; and complete annual reporting. If your campus governance organization includes sustainability, you should be aware of the new policy and requirements. (See: document 5200 – Elimination of Single Use Plastics and Preference for Durable and Reusable Alternatives – Procedure; document 5201 – Elimination of Single Use Plastics and Preference for Durable and Reusable Alternatives; document 5200.1 – Definitions [PDF]). Interestingly, I had a meeting with students and faculty from Purchase College and ESF this past week on how campus beverage contracts impact efforts to phase out plastic bottles.